CRITIC'S CORNER.

Smarty Jones earns praise

May 17, 2004|By Andrew Beyer, Washington Post.

The skeptics are silen-ced. Knowledgeable fans are convinced. Rival trainers and jockeys are agog. All can jump on the Smarty Jones bandwagon now. His Preakness victory was one of the most convincing performances by a 3-year-old in years.

Smarty Jones's 11 1/2-length triumph sets him apart from other horses who have come this far and been in a position to complete a historic sweep of the Triple Crown. Yes, there was just as much hype for Funny Cide last year, and plenty for War Emblem in 2002 and Charismatic in 1999, and they turned out to be disappointments. But none of them had the versatility, consistency and raw ability of the improbable star from Pennsylvania.

It was difficult to assess Smarty Jones after his Churchill Downs win because his running time was unimpressive and the sloppy, speed-favoring track may have aided him. There were no such ambiguities at Pimlico.

The Preakness under-scored the virtues that make Smarty Jones such a formidable competitor. He has the magical combin-ation of speed and tractability that makes jockey Stewart Elliott say, "He's push-button."

His pedigree will be the subject of much discussion during the next three weeks, but for now the racing world should savor the emergence of a bona fide star who merits all the acclaim he is receiving.

Other recent bidders for the Triple Crown didn't de-serve to have their names on a list with the sport's immortals. After how Smarty Jones performed, nobody could question that he would be worthy of a Triple Crown.